


The spellbound King

by Coils



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Coma, Gen, Poisoning, Pre-Undertale, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-06-03 21:50:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19472908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coils/pseuds/Coils
Summary: Many years before the events of Undertale, the Underworld's royal family is shaken when Asgore unexpectedly falls into a deep slumber.





	1. His son

The doctor’s office door slammed open, its hinges squeaking in agony as it shoved against the wall. A young human bearing a yellow and green sweater darted out as hard and fast as their lithe legs allowed, their panic-stricken face flashing past the hospital personnel. Inside the studio, a motherly boss monster cried and reached for the fleeing human. She held her sobbing son’s head against her dress.

The human ran recklessly, only guided by the sight of the outside. Grunting and panting through their terrified grimace, it was as if the only thing that mattered was getting away from the doctor’s room. They ran through the hospital hallways and gardens. Monster nurses, patients and visitors alike jumped aside for the young human not to trample them. Most of them recognized the running child as the royal family’s human adopted child.

Seeing as their beloved King had recently been hospitalized, they saw a bad omen coming.

Chara’s sprint led them to the back garden of the hospital, where few people dwelled on this busy day, and none followed. In their mad dash, their leg tripped against a tree’s root, making them land face-first with a weak grunt. For an instant, they did nothing but lifelessly tremble on the grass.

Eventually, Chara got on their knees, revealing the drooling mess their mad dash had reduced their visage to. They wiped some of the dirt and grass blades they had been smeared with. It took them a while to transition from this state and remove their gaze from the ground.

They crawled on their feet, dragging their body towards the shade cast by the tree that had downed them. They rested their back against the bark, pressing their face against their knees.

The human looked as if they really needed to rest.

“Chara… Chara?” suddenly called a meek, trembling voice after a while.

Chara did not react.

Asriel observed them peeking from a nearby tree. He brushed his eyes, reddened by tears, then timidly stepped forward.

“So this is where you were…” he cooed with a nervous smile. “Mom told me to come find you…. Some people saw you rush in here… are you okay?” asked the young boss monster.

Chara ignored him.

Asriel gritted his lower lip and stared aside. “I-I don’t know what to say, Chara, I’m very scared… I still don’t believe this. But you have to come talk with the doctor and mom. I…I…” he stuttered, eyes closed. “…I think I know why this happened…” he sobbed.

Chara blankly stared at the treetops.

“The doctor said…” Asriel gulped and closed his eyes. “…the doctor said this might have happened because of his stomach and he…” he stifled a bawl “…dad was sick ever since he ate the pie we made!” A few teardrops flowed down his eyes as he opened them and faced his sibling. “Did you know this would happen?”

Chara trembled. They hid their face against their lap again.

Asriel squeezed his fists and stared at the ground, weeping. “Say something, Chara, please…” he pleaded.

“I broke everything…” cooed Chara’s faint, unsteady voice.

Asriel murmured between sobs and edged closer to hear them.

“I broke everything…” whispered the human, unveiling their face from their knees. Their horrified, wide-open eyes shed no tears. “I ruined everything, Asriel…” they lamented.

Asriel sobbed inconsolably. “But you… but you… just tell me you didn’t mean it, please…” he cried.

Chara leant back, moaning. They shook their head with a lifeless smile.

“I… I could not tell you. But why would that matter to you? Your dad’s life is over and you have the culprit right here… Aren’t you angry at me? Didn’t you love him?” Their insincere simper quivered as Asriel shoved his sorrowful expression in front of him.

“Please don’t talk about him like he’s gone!” he shouted. “Daddy is still alive… he’s still…” his courage shrunk as his stare returned to the ground.

Chara leant towards him and patted his shoulder.

“But he’s never going to open his eyes ever again, Asriel.” Chara mumbled. Their crimson eyes glistening. “That’s not your dad anymore, Asriel… it’s just a hunk of-” Asriel interrupted them by shoving them against the tree by the neck of their sweater, wailing.

“Shut up! Shut up! Tell me that was an accident…” the boss monster youth gritted their teeth, tears sprinkling off his eyes as he shook his head. “At least stop smiling like that….” He whimpered, taking his hands and covering his eyelids.

Chara complied, and laboriously got on their feet. Their fringe concealed their gaze as they leant back.

“Listen. Whatever happened does not matter now. The outcome remains. They will come for me. And if you defend me, they will hate you too…. The Underworld does not need that right now. You have to turn against me, like your mother will. So when she….” Asriel grabbed their shoulders, thrusting his tearful frown in Chara’s face, shaking them in frustration.

“Stop that! ‘Your dad’ this! ‘Your mother’ that! They were your parents too, Chara! We have been living together for so long… we’re siblings! We’re…we’re…” Asriel’s shaking of his adoptive sibling came to a pitiful halt as he noticed they barely reacted. “…don’t talk as if you don’t love them…” he cried. Chara gently shoved his arms aside, and took a few steps away.

“That doesn’t matter either, Asriel. It never did. It’s not that easy. Forget it.” Their empty smile returned to their face. “Just… hate me. Hate me and pretend you never trusted me…” they muttered, giving their back to their adopted sibling. “If not for me, or for your dad’s memory… at least for the good of your people.”

Asriel dropped to his knees, bawling.

Chara turned to face him, warmly smiling this time. “Goodbye, partner… if it means anything, I am sorry. I really did not mean for any of this to happen…”

The human darted away. Asriel didn’t open his eyes, simply reaching for them blindly.

“No, Chara! Don’t! Come back! Please tell everybody you’re sorry too!” Asriel’s desperate cries dimmed out as Chara sprinted away from him.

Away from their brother’s gaze, Chara's visage twisted with sorrow.


	2. His comrade

The sound of the runaway human dragging their feet echoed like a whisper across the dim, silent forest. After a frenzy of reckless running that had left them out of breath, they dragged their worn-looking shoes on the greenery, sending pebbles, dust, and grass slivers shifting. Staring at the ground, their hair covered their eyes like a curtain concealing a stage. They didn’t need to see anything in their aimless wandering after all.

As they reached a sunlit clearing, Chara let out a single pant as they rested their palm on a robust tree. Their back bent forward due to exhaustion.

This was not the first time they had been here. The bright, green expanse was one of the few places of the Underground where the surface’s sunlight reached, and one of the lesser known ones. Only Asgore seemed to be aware of its existence, and upon revealing it to his children, he had made them promise to keep it secret. Chara had read many a book here, coveting the sunlight, and thinking about how monsterkind, must have done so too. Joined by their brother Asriel, they had played all kinds of games there as well, or simply relaxed in the sun’s rays.

They remembered Asgore speaking of this place and the emotions it stirred into his heart. More than anything, it served as a reminder of what awaited his people on the surface. Of what they deserved, and how the duty to fulfil his commitment kept him focused. And for some reason, whenever he told Chara about this, he seemed to be particularly hopeful and synergic towards them, as if the human youth was the key to restoring Monsterkind’s liberty, and he counted on them to help whenever the time arrived.

The old fool…

“Hey.”

As they turned around to face the unexpected call, Chara’s fringe opened like a pair of jaws, revealing the crimson abyss of their threatening gaze to the interloper.

The grizzly, deep voice turned out to belong to a dashing royal guard, who sternly stared at Chara. The sunlight glistened against his leathery, pistachio-coloured skin, and all that stuck out of his formal attire were his thick, wide arms and vigorous shell. Atop his head, a majestic mane of hair, even rivalling Asgore’s, quivered in the light breeze.

Chara was familiar with this one. Asgore seemed to tolerate him way more than they deemed acceptable, seeing how much he teased him and assaulted his shoulders and temples with relentless pats and nudges. His name was Gerson. And if they recalled correctly, being a veteran of the war against humans, he didn’t look particularly elated around them. They even recalled some shady comments about “Being careful with that creepy human brat”.

Not taking their eyes off the inquisitive turtle monster, Chara reached for the back of their pants to check something.

Lucky. They hadn’t forgotten their pocket knife.

“Kid…can you hear me?” barked Gerson, raising an eyebrow.

Chara’s only answer was a slight frown of their stare.

Gerson pitiably sighed.

“Listen… I’m sorry I startled you.” He crossed his arms, walking towards the human. “I know what happened to Asgore and I was on my way to see him… what are you doing all the way out here anyways?”

Chara went around the tree to walk away from him. Gerson stopped in his tracks, holding his palms out in a conciliating gesture.

“I know, I know… I’m getting too cushy with you. You don’t trust someone like me, do you? Me and my dirty looks… Let me tell you… wise of you to be cautious. I fought a lot of your people…” Gerson sulked, his brow frowning. “And let me tell you, right now…” he leant forward to stare right into Chara’s gaze. “…you have that same look some of them did.” Gerson raised both his eyebrows.

Chara remained silent.

“But this is no battlefield, kid. And if you simply wanted to splatter my dust… you would have rushed at me with that knife there. Am I right?” he cackled with a simper, leaning back and resting his thick mitts on his belt.

Not sure if intimidated or comforted, Chara took their hand off their back, presenting their bare palms to Gerson, then stuffed them in their pockets.

He smiled. “That’s better.”

Chara sighed and glanced aside with resignation, clutching their forearm.

Gerson sighed along: “You know, I told Asgore once… that humans would come here some day. Even if we’re no threat to them anymore. They’ll get bored and storm in here, just to get rid of us… and we needed to be prepared to deal with that. But how could we ever prepare for a repeat of all that bloodlust and carnage…?” the turtle monster shook his head. “Going out there is suicide…. But what difference would it make if your people decided to come in droves here and exterminate us?”

The human took their eyes off the distance to give Gerson a vaguely inquisitive look.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, kid, but… sometimes the mere thought of a human still sends shivers down my spine. I can’t help it. Even a kid like you…” Huffed Gerson, rustling his belt.

Chara nodded in agreement. Humans simply could not be trusted.

Gerson surprised them with a warm smile.

“But what do I know? Look at what’s in front of me. A human! Walking around like it owns the place! And there’s some people down here who’d go out of their way to argue in your favor… what a treat! Wahaha!” he cackled.

Chara failed to see what was so amusing.

“And as things stand… now that you’re here, Asgore wants to get us all out to try and negotiate with the humans… for peace! Now there’s something I never thought I’d hear him say. And his wife agrees! Hell, look at his kid… you two buggers are inseparable!” Gerson grinned.

Chara‘s scowl intensified. They never pegged this one for one so attached to Asgore and his family. It seemed out of line to them.

“What a wimp that squirt is… just like his dad…” cackled Gerson. “Oh, but speaking of crybabies… You can’t fool me, kid…” Gerson stepped forward.

Chara flinched, instinctively reaching for their knife once more.

Gerson kneeled down to stare Chara face to face. “You have been crying,” He concluded.

As if his words had pierced their glare, Chara’s downcast eyes fixated on the ground.

“You’re sad about Asgore, aren’t you? This might surprise you but… I know firsthand humans are not the heartless beasts some people think you are… war led your kind to do many of the things they did. They had families and loved ones too. Before Asgore took you in, you had one too, did you not?” Gerson smiled tenderly.

Chara, however, appeared more sombre and aggressive than ever.

“Listen, kid. You are one tough cookie. And you have a nice head too. I think that’s why Asgore’s kid latched on to you like he did. You can’t run off like a baby now of all times… Come. Wash your face and let’s go back. Tell me how you saw Asg…no” Gerson shook his head, and reached for Chara’s head, to ruffle their hair. “Tell me how your dad was on the way back.”

Chara sidestepped to avoid Gerson’s palm.

“I’m not going back,” were the only words that gushed out of their mouth.

Gerson frowned.

“Kid, I know it’s hard, but don’t be selfish. Your dad needed… still needs you. And I only trust you to help us because he did. Don’t disappoint him.”

Chara slapped his hand away and walked back.

“Fool,” they whispered. “You are a fool to trust me.” Chara’s mouth twisted in a wide, void smile. “And you will soon see how beyond saving humanity is…” Chara’s crimson eyes glistened like blood-stained rubies.

Their face chilled Gerson down to his soul. The turtle monster gulped.

Chara’s stare reminded him of the battlefield.

“W-what are you talking about, kid?” yammered Gerson, wiping some sweat off his forehead. “Stop pulling my leg and c-“

A voice calling for Gerson interrupted him. He turned around to the sound of an approaching guard squadron. He heard them holler something about doctor Isai needing his presence, and flipped around to tell Chara to come with them.

But like an apparition, the human had completely vanished.

Wide-eyed and sweating buckets, Gerson looked around, a horrible feeling on his gut.

* * *

Chara dashed through the forest once more, a determined glint in their otherwise inexpressive eyes. It was only a matter of time before everyone found out. They had to act now. If they were to free monsterkind from humanity, this was it.

The plan. It was time for the plan. Now or never.


	3. His love

Chara sat on the sunlit grass patch. Back to the place they had entered the underground through. Enshrouded by darkness, they clutched a yellow flower bouquet, burying their face in it to breathe in its fragrance. Lowering the batch, they inhaled, surveying the flowers’ odour like an executioner would the keenness of his axe.

Now or never.

They opened wide, lips trembling and teeth clattering. They were afraid. They knew what these flowers did. What they had done to Asgore. They hesitated. But thinking of their adoptive father, lifeless on his deathbed, never to wake up again, filled Chara with guilt-ridden resolve. All the more reason to take this punishment. Asriel would know what to do next, and then monsterkind would suffer no more. They’d be rid of the humans.

They’d be rid of the wretched creature that poisoned their loving King.

As their teeth clamped around the closest flower, an uncanny glow blinded them.

Chara spat the contents of their mouth as a star-shaped magical attack landed squarely on their chest, sending them flying into the darkness, destroying every buttercup into a fluttering flurry of petals.

They found them.

The human attempted to swallow, but only a bitter aftertaste remained, nothing solid. Chara’s numb body twitched, as they struggled to regain their footing, and grasped the air between their hands. Not a trace of flower. No branches, no petals. It had all been scattered across the grass. And even if they had managed to scuttle along the grass, retrieved every petal and somehow fulfilled their endeavour, Asriel would never be allowed to get near them after their execution.

Failure.

They serenely watched the sunlit corner. The sound of footsteps, made them expect the main body of the royal guard, perhaps Gerson himself had come hunting for them.

But only Asriel stepped into the light.

The young boss monster was an even greater sobbing wreck than usual. Glittering, multi-coloured smoke sizzled out of his paws. With no more warning than a grunt, they lunged towards the human, pinned them to the ground and began swatting, slapping their head around.

“No! No! No!” cried Asriel, rage and sadness filling his words. “You are not leaving me alone right after dad! You’re not doing that to me! I’ll never forgive you! No! No…” he hacked blindly, missing Chara most of the time.

The human groaned and covered themselves, which didn’t stop Asriel from assaulting their face.

“NO! I don’t know what you are going to say but I’m sure it’s stupid! Shut up! SHUT UP!” shrieked the heartbroken monster.

Chara gritted their teeth, managing to push Asriel back by intercepting one of his wrists.

“Asriel, we can make your dad’s wishes come true! We can free monsterkind…” Chara struggled to blurt, interrupted by Asriel’s swings. “And besides… don’t you get what I just did?! I was the one that made your father leave!” they screamed, head-butting Asriel.

The young boss monster briefly winced on the ground, but before Chara could fully stand, he lunged back, knocking them on the floor. He attempted to grab their face, but Chara clutched his paws, locking them into a struggle. Asriel sobbed incoherently.

Chara bellowed: “I deserve to die! At least give me a chance to make up for my mistake… If I had never come here, dad would still be-“ Chara’s words froze in their throat as they noticed a tall figure rush into the grass bed, casting a shadow over them.

“Wrong, my child.”

Toriel stepped between the kids, her mere touch making them both wind down.

Asriel shook on the ground, clutching his temples. Toriel knelt down and wrapped her paws around his shoulders, helping him rise, a task which his trembling ankles hindered. She caressed the top of his head, then tended her hand to the still downed Chara.

“Say nothing, you two. We are going back this instant. Your poor father awaits you…”

Chara slapped her mitt away with a cold, dry groan. They sneered.

“’My child’? Still?” Chara’s maniacal cackle resonated across the grotto.

Toriel frowned and closed her eyes, clutching Asriel tightly.

The monster child turned to sink his face on his mother’s lap.

“After all I have done… you still call me that?” They stood up, flashing a condescendingly forked smile towards the monster Queen. “So attached to a murderous creature like me… do you seek your own destruction? Just like he did?” Chara laughed blaringly.

Their heinous bellowing made Asriel shudder in his mother’s embrace.

The matronly monster began to feel weak in the knees herself. She loved Chara from the bottom of her heart, but their conduct in face of such a matter filled even her with doubt. She shook her head, trying her hardest to compose herself.

She opened her arms to beckon Chara with a serene smile.

“Indeed, Chara… even if you were not the future of humans and monsters… you would still be my precious, beloved child…”

Chara held their head up, not coming a step closer to their adoptive mother.

Asriel let one of his tear-swollen eyes look back to his sibling, then immediately clutched his mother’s robe again as he noticed Chara’s malicious grin.

“The future of…” Chara spat, throwing their arms up in the air. “Not if I stay alive! How can you still not see it? Ever since you took me in… did it not cross your mind how useful a tool my soul could be for you?”

The human’s eyes glimmered with a twinkle of hope as they edged closer to Toriel, gazing into her unflappable frown.

“If the legends are true you could singlehandedly end this meaningless divide, free your people… it is not too late for you to take my soul and cross the border…”

Toriel covered her mouth. Was Chara trying to force everyone’s hand? Was that what this had been from the beginning?

The Queen bowed her head and grievously shook it again.

“Nonsense. Your plan has no future. And your act fails to convince me. It does not make sense for you to have ran away like this, should you believe the poisonous drivel you spout.” she huffed, pushing Asriel back ever so slightly, and began to wipe his teardrops with a handkerchief.

Chara stepped back again, their gaze trembling as they forced a smirk.

Toriel sulked as she stared at her sniffling son’s face.

“Chara…. you clearly have been suffering a great deal because of what happened… It is written all over your eyes. Please, let us return.”

Chara gritted their teeth, fury pouring out their ablaze eyes. They stomped their feet towards Toriel and pushed Asriel aside, who whimpered as they fell face-down to the ground.

“You can’t lie to yourself! You know all this grieving and sadness could have been avoided if you had given me the use I deserved from the start!” they screamed, clutching Toriel’s robe and shaking her about. “You trust a human, squander their soul, surrender to humanity’s whims…” they pulled Toriel’s clothing as hard as they could.

Asriel held his ears against his face on the ground.

Toriel huffed, intercepting Chara’s wrists before they could rip her tunic apart, then slapped Chara away, making them land on the soft grass, close to their brother.

“My child… cease this abominable charade at once!” she shrieked.

Chara’s smirk rose from the ground as they rubbed their reddened cheek.

“Was I worth the life of your husband?” the human mumbled.

Toriel dejectedly glanced away. She breathed in, then knelt down, smiling forlornly for her adopted child. Thin trails of tears began pouring down her eyes.

“That is where you are the most wrong, my child… this was not your doing. Your prank came at an awful time, and it did not help, but… one way or another, the health of your foolish father would have broken like it did today.”

Asriel’s sobs and whimpers began echoing across the hollow once again.

The human attempted to reel back, a weak gasp escaping their throat.

“Your father’s live was not a very healthy one,” continued Toriel. “He worked day and night for the good of his people. Investigating. Toiling. Experimenting. Eventually, they forgot to sleep. And the poor fool barely paid this any mind… he treated it like an occupational hazard… and eventually, his head…”

Toriel wept.

Asriel rose from the ground and hugged his dirt-covered face against Chara’s back. The human offered no complaints, leaning on their knees, their stare fixated on the hole from which the sunlight poured.

Their mother wiped some of her tears, then angrily gazed at them.

“And your pathetic plan… what will you do once you cross the barrier, just with one human soul? For heaven’s sake, even if you had six souls, with how many humans there are, they would surely find a way to destroy you and emerge more hateful of our kind from the ordeal!” She caressed their forehead.

Toriel attempted to wipe tears off their confused face, but didn’t find them there yet.

“Do you not understand how badly monsterkind was beaten…? Therein lie the faults of your plan… and your charade. What is best for monsterkind is for you to stay with us.” Toriel brushed her tears, then helped Chara and Asriel up.

“But…” protested Chara.

She shushed him with a soft coo.

“Your father was right. The segregation of humanity and monsterkind will not be solved by fighting… but by acting and talking. And as wrong as it feels for your mother to refer to you as such… You are indeed a powerful tool at our disposal, my child. An ambassador. The negotiator between humans and monsters. Because if we somehow befriend the humans, we will be able to live under the same sky…” she held her head up, hugging her children.

Chara whimpered with a barren grimace, as if their whole world had been obliterated before their very eyes.

“And as unlikely as that seems, my child… with you by our side, it is infinitely more likely than us amassing the prowess to make a single human stay dead…” she grieved, starting to lead Chara and Asriel towards the castle.

The family walked together a few feet, until Chara flinched away from Toriel’s hold.

They mumbled “That does not make up for what I did… I… I treated the love of your life like a toy… I don’t deserve your forgiveness… just let me…”

The words died in their mouth as Toriel gently grabbed their palm yet again.

“You are the one who deserves my forgiveness the most, my treasure... my hope. Our hope. Now, more than ever, we need you at our side. Please. I beg of you…. Grant this foolish lady this one thing… and stay with me. Don’t make us all grieve another loss on this day…”

Chara’s collected expression came crumbling down in a pitiful sulk.

“Mom…”

Their wail reverberated across the cavern.


	4. His legacy

Chara was the first to step into Asgore’s room when its door opened. Toriel and Asriel stared from the doorframe.

They had mourned him long enough.

The human made their way to their father’s bed with a naïve smile.

“Hello, Asgore. I came to see you… I am done running. Doctor Isai says we ‘have to pay our goodbyes while we still can,’ but… that is nonsense, right? You are waking up soon…”

Asgore smiled peacefully.

Chara held his lifeless palm with both their small hands, giving him a warm-hearted smile.

“Mom and Asriel are here too… look, Asriel’s sobbing like the pushover he is! Don’t keep him like that. Go say something to him… like a joke, or one of your corny inspirational speeches!”

Gerson arrived at Toriel’s side, staring into the room. He patted her shoulder. She did not react.

Chara’s eyes darted all around Asgore’s stiff body.

“Are you not mad? I ruined that pie you liked so much… if there is something worth a scolding, that’s it right? Come now, be a parent for once! Confiscate my chocolate!” Chara broke down cackling, tightly holding their dad’s warm hand. Their laugh persisted for a while, resonating through the hospital.

Toriel and Asriel hugged. Chara’s bouts of laughter used to terrify them, but now they finally understood what they meant.

The human’s laugh slowly turned into sobbing, as threads of tears gushed from their crimson eyes.

“This is just a bad dream, Asgore… you have to wake up!” they shook Asgore’s shoulder.

Asgore’s shoulders pitifully wobbled. His unflappable smile remained. Chara rubbed the top of his head.

Toriel bawled. Gerson looked away in a dejected frown.

“I’ll be everything you wanted me to… So please… stay with us to see it all…”

Chara pinched Asgore’s ankle through his bed sheet, hoping for any kind of reaction.

“This is not fair… I did not ask for any of this… I just dropped through that hole because I wanted to…” They stopped cold, shaking their head.

Chara leant forward, clutching their father’s cheeks, then leant into his torso.

“Please, father…”

Chara whimpered against Asgore’s chest.

Toriel closed the door, as she and Asriel joined the sobbing Chara.

* * *

The sunlit cavern had been covered with beds of glittering yellow flowers. Quite similar to Chara’s favourites. Since they did not grow on the Underground, Asgore had worked day and night to breed and grow a substitute, aided by botany book that Gerson found in the wetlands. He had been planning to give Chara a bouquet for their birthday.

Instead, a carpet of them had been his family’s final gift for him.

A great number of people had gathered to give Asgore his final goodbye. Arranged in a line, armour-, suit- and robe-clad monsters oversaw a short corridor. At its end, the royal family watched over an isolated, circular flower patch.

Asriel bore a golden suit of armor with a black cape. His father’s crown trembled atop his head. He held an urn filled with Asgore’s dust. His mother and sibling flanked him, bearing ceremonial robes adorned with the delta rune.

Gerson’s cape flapped against the tepid breeze as he made his way through the monster corridor. He wielded Asgore’s trident, which he embedded on the ground as he reached the end of his walk.

Chara approached the lithe turtle, graciously handing him a rolled scripture.

They exchanged bows.

Gerson unravelled the note and cleared his throat, starting to read it out loud.

“We are here to honour the most kind and courageous ruler the Underground has ever known. Committed to his people, and lover of all living things, he worked through thick and thin, neglecting his own body, all for the sake of his loved ones and people. He truly gave it all for the future… not of monsterkind. Not of humankind. But of anything that ever walked this Earth. Now that he has been unjustly taken away from us, we are tasked with a strenuous mission. To uphold everything he believed in. To trust his conviction, and live by it. And to look over ourselves like he did.”

“So let this not be the end. Let this be a new beginning. The beginning of an era where we all shall be bathed by the same light again. One where monsters and humans will leave their differences aside, and share the bounty of the lands and the heavens.”

“And should the King ever know of his legacy, wherever he might be… let him be proud of his loved ones and friends, for we remain on this Earth in his stead, to honour and uphold it. To treasure his wisdom and desires. May the earth rest lightly on you, Asgore Dreemur.” Gerson folded the piece of parchment, then handed it back to Chara with a bow.

Clutching the piece of paper, Chara broke their stoic stance to deeply inhale and cover their eyes. As the one who had penned the eulogy, they barely could contain their relief Gerson believed and vouched for them enough to allow their words to be Asgore’s goodbye.

Despite everything, they had earned the respect and trust of the Underground.

Gerson saluted the royal family, as did the rest of the guard.

Chara and Toriel knelt, as composed and serene as their broken hearts allowed them.

Asriel’s head bobbed as he stifled his sobs.

Gerson took a step forward and bowed, nodding at the dejected Asriel. He lifted Asgore’s trident, which vanished in a cloud of blue dust.

The prince then scattered Asgore’s ashes over the flowerbed.


End file.
